


Chef

by buckyscrystalqueen



Series: Chef [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 08:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16869589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyscrystalqueen/pseuds/buckyscrystalqueen





	1. Chapter 1

“So you studied in Portugal, Italy, France and Switzerland?” You nodded at the man in front of you, Happy, you believed you heard, as he flipped through your resume in your official ‘Stark file’. “And you were a house mother for an orphanage in Italy as well.” You nodded once again as you ran your damp palms on your nicest pair of dress slacks. You silently prayed that your interviewer didn’t see the cigarette burn by your left knee or the bobby pin on the right cuff that you had strategically curled and pinned up to hide a tiny stain. 

“How long have you been stateside?” He asked, despite already knowing the answer. His eyes darted off your file and up at you.

“T-three weeks.” You said as you tried to force yourself not to fidget under his scrutiny. He stared at you, unblinking, studying you for a solid minute before flipping the page on your file. You caught a glimpse of your high schools transcript and your driving record before he settled on another page.

“Driving record, clean. New York criminal record, clean. Federal record, clean. International record, clean.” He looked up at you once more with a straight, unblinking face. “Stayed out of trouble or just didn’t get caught?” You shook your head almost frantically as the office door behind you opened.

“Are you done pretending to do my job, Happy?” A woman asked as she walked into the room. You looked up at her smiling face, recognizing her as Pepper Potts, as Happy stammered out an incoherent response. She shooed him out of her chair and offered you her hand. “Pepper Potts.”

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N).” She nodded, sat down in her chair and dismissed Happy from the office. She smiled at you and tilted her head to the side.

“Sorry about that. Now, you studied culinary abroad, right?” You nodded again and put your hand over the spot on your knee. “Nine years, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She giggled and shook her head.

“You don’t have to call me ma’am.” She flipped your file closed and folded her hands on her desk. “I’m going to be completely honest with you. You had the job before you even came in here. With your background and experience, it was a given. But I will… apologize in advance. Dealing with the Avengers can be a bit… chaotic. Being the chef and… well house mother doesn’t seem like the right word but those are what your official titles in the computer are.” You smiled broadly and shook your head as you fought to keep your excitement at bay.

“I grew up with eight brothers and sisters. I doubt that they can shock me.” Pepper smirked as she sat back in her chair and pulled open her desk drawer. She grabbed a set of keys and handed them to you across the desk.

“I’ll wish you luck all the same. You can start day after tomorrow; give you a day to get settled in your new, non-hotel home. Happy will give you an ID badge on your way out and I will have a car bring you upstate. You’ll live on property, have Mondays and Tuesdays off unless you don’t want them off or if they need to be moved during the week for whatever reason. You’ll have two days after Easter and Thanksgiving and four after Christmas. One day after every other holiday. 

You’ll be making ninety-five thousand dollars a year plus benefits after your first ninety days. Feel free to wear what you want and I will email you the forms I need you to fill out for tax purposes and your contract that basically says everything I just said. I’ll need them by the end of the week. If you have any questions at all, just ask FRIDAY to contact me. She’s Stark Industries artificial intelligence.” She looked down at her phone to check something before smiling up at you once more. “I really wish I had a little longer to sit and chat but I have a whole mess of stuff to do today.” You nodded as you both stood up.

“Thank you, so very much for the opportunity. I won’t let you down.” She smiled at you and nodded as she shook your offered hand.

“I don’t think you will just… don’t let them give you any shit. Stand your ground.” You giggled and nodded.

“I won’t. I promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Damnit, Sam! Did you eat the last of my cereal?” Natasha snapped as she ripped open cabinets in the kitchen. You heard a muffled ‘no’ as you followed Happy past the kitchen toward the living quarters you’d be staying in. The new Avengers Facility didn’t have any real live-in staff, so there wasn’t an official ‘staff quarters’ yet, which left you staying in the same dorms as the rest of the Avengers. You glanced over as the redhead lunged over the counter and punched Sam in the shoulder before taking his bowl of cereal away for herself. As you looked back to learn where you were going, you made the mental note to keep whatever that cereal was well stocked.

“This is you.” Happy said as he pushed opened the last door on the left. You walked past him as he dropped your duffle of clothes on the floor. “Welcome to the Avengers.” You smiled at him and nodded as his face was replaced with the curious faces of a lot of the Avengers.

“Who are you?” Sam asked as he tried to pick a piece of cereal out of Natasha’s bowl without her knowing. Her eyes didn’t leave yours as she quickly hit the back of his hand with the edge of her spoon, causing him to recoil with a hiss.

“I’m (Y/N). I’m the new chef and the new… house mother? Mediator, organizer… what not. Mostly, just a chef, though. I start tomorrow.” You tried not to reveal your nervousness as the five people in front of you looked at each other with their eyebrows raised.

“Well, welcome to the team, (Y/N).” Steve said as he stepped around Wanda and extended his hand. You shook it firmly as Natasha simply turned and walked off.

“Where is your accent from?” Wanda asked as she stepped forward. You smiled at her as you leaned against your door frame.

“Surprised you can hear it. Italian or French; I don’t know which one you’re hearing.” She nodded at you with a smile as the sound of the elevator dinging claimed everyones attention. Your boxes of stuff were carried on to the living quarters floor and you pushed off the door frame to get out of the way.

“We’ll let you get unpacked. See you later!” Steve said with a smile. You smiled at him and nodded as he and the rest of the Avengers walked away. As you followed the men into your room to start unpacking the few belongings you had, Sam walked up and leaned against your door frame.

“So are you from Italy or France?” He asked as he moved out of the way to let the other Stark employees out of the room. You glanced up at him as you pulled your work keys out of your pocket and opened the first box, your laptop and printer.

“I’m from New York.” You glanced up at him as you set your printer on your desk and cocked your eyebrow at him as he checked out your body. “I’m sorry, is there anything else or may I have some privacy as I unpack?” He looked up at you and smiled, cockily.

“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” You smiled and shook your head.

“I don’t mix business with pleasure.” He nodded and pushed off your door frame.

“Alright.” He turned and headed back toward the kitchen with a mumbled ‘that’s what you say now’. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes as you walked over to close your door. A sliver of a mans face caught your eye in the doorway of the only other door in your hall, which was down a little ways from yours; closer to the kitchen. Your breath caught in your throat. The blue eye that you could see bore into yours behind long, brown hair but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared behind a now closed door. You stood there for a moment, looking at the closed door before taking a step back into your room and closing your own door to unpack your room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How’s the new job, little angel?” You sighed at your grandmother as you stood in the Avengers kitchen at quarter to six in the morning.

“The new job is good.” You responded in Italian around the burnt matchstick you had between your teeth so you didn’t tear up. “But then again, today is the first day.” She laughed in your ear as you chopped the onions you would need expertly and turned to put them in the pan.

“What are you cooking first?” You smirked as you dropped the match on the counter and turned back to crush some garlic while your onions started to sauté.

“Your sauce, of course. One of the girls picked out the Italian in my accent apparently so I figured I’d start off with something everyone loves to show off what I’m capable of.” Something large caught your eye and you glanced up at the man who walked into the kitchen. He froze with his hand outstretched toward the coffee pot. You smiled sweetly as you searched the blue eyes of the man who lived across the hall. “Nonna, I have call you back. I love you.” You waited for her to say I love you as well before reaching up and hanging up the phone on your headset. “Hi.”

“You speak Italian?” He asked, his voice carrying a dark and intoxicating air to it. You nodded at him as you pulled your bluetooth earpiece out and set it on the counter by your phone.

“Italian, French, Portuguese and German. Can I make you something for breakfast? It’s… kinda my job.” He shook his head and silently poured himself a cup of coffee. Without another word, he turned on his heel and quickly walked out of the kitchen back to his room. With a shrug, you went back to cooking for a moment before Captain America walked into the kitchen. “Good morning.” He glanced over at you and smiled as you added your garlic to your onions and started to stir the pan.

“Good morning. How’d you sleep?” You glanced back over your shoulder at him as you poured the onions and garlic into a big pot to cook.

“Amazingly, actually. That bed is way more comfortable than the motel bed I’ve been sleeping on.” He smiled at you as he sat down on one of the barstools to chat. You added water and your crushed and pureed tomatoes to the pot and stirred them together as you looked over at Captain Rogers. “Can I make you something for breakfast? I make a mean omelette that the other guy passed up on.” Steve glanced over at the hallway your room was and nodded.

“That’s Bucky. He’s… well he’s a little shy right now. He’s been through some stuff.” You nodded and hummed as he took a sip of his coffee. With a ‘humph’ he held the mug out to look at it for a moment before looking up at you. “Good coffee.” You smiled and nodded.

“I brought it back from Italy. I’m not a fan of that Folgers junk.” He pursed his lips and nodded approvingly as he took another sip. You added the first half of your spices to the pot and moved your pan into the sink to wash. “So, breakfast?”

“Oh, yes please. Omelettes, you said?” You nodded as you rinsed out your pan and looked over at him.

“Are you allergic to anything, Captain? Or are you a picky eater?”

“It’s Steve, please.” He said as you dried off your pan and put it back on the stove. “And no, I’m not picky and no allergies.” With a nod, you headed over to the fridge and grabbed what you would need for a ham and veggie omelette. “So where did you learn how to cook?” You glanced up at him as you began cutting up green peppers.

“My nonna taught my sisters and me how to cook as kids and I went to culinary school in Italy, France, Switzerland and Portugal.” His eyebrows shot to his hairline as you moved on to the red pepper you would need.

“Impressive. Are you from Europe originally?” You shook your head as you moved on to the baby tomatoes.

“I was born in Staten Island. My parents got divorced when I was seven, so my mom moved us all back to Italy to live with my nonna… my grandmother. I’ve been there off and on since then.” He nodded as you scooped all your ingredients into a bowl and brought it and the eggs over to the stove.

“What brought you back to New York?” You forced yourself to smile as you looked back over at him.

“My fathers funeral. My siblings and I came back and three of us decided to stay here for a while.” You watched his face drop slightly as he set his coffee mug on the marble counter top.

“I’m so sorry.” You shook your head at him as you quickly stirred your sauce.

“Don’t be. I didn’t know the man well.” He nodded behind your back as you went back to making his omelette.

“You said you had siblings? How many?” A smile stretched across your face as you poured the lightly spiced egg mixture into your pan.

“There’s nine of us. Six boys and three girls.” You giggled as he whistled and got up to get more coffee.

“I bet your house was a little crazy.” You smiled and nodded at him.

“You have no idea. I’m the second youngest so it was hand me down central all my life.” He chuckled as you flipped over his omelette and grabbed a plate from the cabinet. “I felt real bad for my baby brother, though. I only got hand me downs from two sisters. He got it from five brothers.” You flipped his omelette for the last time and slid it onto a plate. With a smile, you handed it over to him. “Congratulations, Steve. You’re the first to try my food.” He bowed his head and grabbed some silverware from the drawer while you started cleaning up the pan and bowls for the next person. He moaned around his first bite as you scrubbed the pan.

“God this is best damn thing I’ve ever had!”

“Language.” Natasha mumbled as she stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed a mug for coffee.

“Good morning. Would you like an…” You tried only to be interrupted with a curt ‘no’. She sat down at the counter by Steve and laid her head down on the bar. You went over and pulled open your personal, locked cabinet and grabbed a new box of cereal she and Sam had been fighting over the day before. You set it down on the counter in front her head with a small smile. She looked up to see what it was and met your eyes.

“Thank you.” You nodded at her and went back to making your sauce for dinner that night.

——

“So real fast before you guys eat.” You said that night at dinner as the team loaded their plates with your authentic, hand made spaghetti and meatballs. “On my door are three baskets. One has forms for requests for meals no matter how exotic they may be. First come, first serve unless the requester is not here or someone puts in multiple requests; I'll rotate those in order with the others. The second box has forms for grocery store requests; cereals, juices, snacks etcetera. The third is empty for your filled out papers. If you guys need anything or just want some one to vent to, feel free to let me know. I’m in the kitchen all day. Buon Appetito.” You bowed your head at them and turned on your heel to go back to your room to call your middle sister, Isabella, before you showered and headed to bed. You smiled to yourself as Clint commented on how delicious the food was and grabbed your phone off the counter. You took one step away from the island and slammed into the hard chest of your hall neighbor.

“Oh, merda. Mi dispiace molto!” You apologized as you put your hand on Bucky’s chest and took a step back. You felt the muscle move as he stiffened against your palm. You met his eyes and in the close proximity, noticed his eyes were a little more grey than blue and they had a caramel ring around the pupil. He barely nodded his head as his eyes searched yours for a moment.

“Va bene.” (It’s fine.) He said as he looked down at your hand. You quickly pulled it back and blushed scarlet. Without meeting his eyes again, you darted around him and nearly ran to your room. You slammed the door closed and leaned back against it with a sigh. With a shake of your head, you put your ear piece in to call your sister to tell her all about your first day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This has to be the most boring job in the history of the world.” Your brother, Frank complained in Portuguese so his boss wouldn’t understand him as you started making fresh cinnamon rolls for the team. “You sit and watch a camera for hours. No one comes in. No one, goes out. You just sit and stare at this moron who’s actually drooling on himself.” You giggled as you set the bowl on the counter and began rolling out the pastries.

“Frankie, if you don’t like your job, change it. But remember, you don’t like people anyways so you might as well stick with the boring job. Do you remember what happened to your job at that factory in Portugal?” He groaned in your ear as a black shadow fell across the floor. You glanced over at Bucky, who was up a lot earlier that you expected. You smarted a bit as Frank rambled on about how it was his co-workers fault he got punched in the face in your ear.

“Coffee should be ready.” You said softly as you pointed to the pot. Bucky nodded at you but kept watching you work as he headed over to sit at the bar. You tried to interrupt your brother to tell him you’d call him back but Bucky held up his hand to stop you.

“Just… I just don’t wanna be alone. And I don’t wanna talk.” You nodded at him as Frank demanded to know who you were talking to.

“Someone I work for, you nosy prat.” You snapped back as you went back to rolling out the dough. “Frankie, I don’t know what to tell you when it comes to your job. You either sit and endure it, you find a new job or you go back to live with mom and nonna.” He grumbled in your ear as a loud, snorted snore made you quickly rip out your ear piece. You looked at it for a moment before putting it back in your ear. “The hell was that?”

“I gotta go. Douche bag is waking up.” You nodded your head as you grabbed your knife from the block you brought from home.

“Think about what I said, Frankie. Stay out of trouble.” He grunted at you and hung up the phone. You looked up at Bucky and smiled at him. “Wanna talk yet? ‘Cause one of my sisters is next on my list. I don’t care if you listen… she just bitches about her kids anyways. You speak Italian?” He nodded at you and you reached up to hit the button on your bluetooth. “Call Amy.”

“How many sisters?” You glanced up at him, unsure if he had actually spoke or not and smiled as the phone rang in your ear.

“Two. And six brothers.” He nodded as Amy answered the phone.

“Ciao?”

“Ciao bella.” Amy squealed in your ear, causing your eavesdropper to chuckle as you started putting your cinnamon buns in the pan. “How are you?”

“Oh… my gosh. You will never believe what that little shit, Nicolo did.” You brushed your hands off on your jeans and turned your phone on speaker so Bucky could hear as well.

“What did the little shit do?” You glanced up at him to make sure it was ok as you slowly took the ear piece out. When he didn’t protest, you set it down and went back to baking as your sister started in on her story.

“He painted my room… with my lipstick. And not the cheap pharmacy lipstick either, oh no. He used my seventy dollar, cle de peau beaute lipstick that Antonio got me for Christmas last year!”

“Antonio is my oldest brother.” You told Bucky as you finished one tray and started in on the next. He nodded as Amy continued her rant.

“I found that shit everywhere! He even gave mom devil horns in the family photo!” You snorted a laugh as Bucky covered his mouth.

“Well, mom can be the devil when your kids terrorize her.” You reminded your sister as you turned and popped the two trays in the oven.

“He colored my pillow cases and my sheets. The dresser…” You reached out and muted the phone for a moment as Amy listed the things your nephew destroyed.

“Nicky is four. Her older son, Dante is six and he’ll be next.” Sure enough, the second you unmuted your phone to start making the icing, Amy started in on her next child.

“And Dante… don’t even get me started on that punk. He punched one of his little friends in the school yard! Said he was playing pro-wrestler like John Cena. Are you kidding me right now?! I got called out of work to pick him up because Lord forbid his lazy father do anything. I got the other mother glaring at me like it’s my fault. I just told her ‘I don’t watch that shit. That’s all Enzo’. But I still have to miss work to stay home for three days. They basically suspended his punk ass, can you believe that shit? Six years old and the kid gets suspended.” You glanced up at Bucky, who was biting his bottom lip to keep from laughing and shook your head.

“That’s insane.”

“I know… Dante! Get your ass off that table! Don’t look at me like…” *crash* “Mother fucker! I told you to get your ass… (Y/N), I gotta go.” The second the line went dead, Bucky finally burst out laughing.

“Your family is crazy.” You nodded in agreement as you held the icing bowl toward him to test.

“You have no idea.” He nodded his approval and you set the bowl down to grab yourself and Bucky a cup of coffee. “Antonio is the oldest, then Amy. Frank, who I was on the phone with when you came in, is next, followed by Alex, Lucas, Isabella, Mario, me and baby Joey.” Bucky nodded at you as he accepted the cup of coffee from you.

“Your parents were busy.” You giggled and nodded as you went over to the fridge to start the bacon and sausage.

“And we’re all within a year to a year and a half of the kid before and after us. Imagine what my mom and nonna went through when we moved over to Italy. My parents got divorced when I was seven so mom packed us all up and moved us all to Sicily. My poor nonna went insane because of my three oldest brothers. Amy helped my mom raise the rest of us.”

“Jeez. That sounds like a lot to handle.” You shrugged as you rolled your sausage links in their pan.

“It was. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It made us all a lot closer than some families get to be so I’m grateful for that.” Your timer went off and you grabbed your oven mitts off the counter. “You want to ice the cinnamon buns for me?” You set the two pans on the counter, put the cinnamon buns on the plater you were going to serve them on and grabbed a big spoon from one of the drawers as Bucky walked around the island. 

“It’s real easy. Just do a generous spoonful above the middle of the bun.” You demonstrated with one of them and then passed him the spoon. “No, you can’t mess them up and I can make more icing if you run out.” He stayed quiet and got to work as you asked your phone to shuffle your songs to fill the silence while you started in on the bacon.

“Your spaghetti was really good last night.” He said in the break of of the second and third song. You looked over your shoulder at him and smiled.

“Thank you. It’s one of my favorite dishes to make.” He nodded as he spread the last of the icing on the top of the cinnamon buns. “Eat one when it’s warm. It’s the best when it’s still hot.” You grabbed him a plate, put two sausages on it, and passed it to him. His fingertips brushed across the back of your hand and you noticed that his fingers were unusually cold. Neither of you moved for a moment, waiting for the other one to react, before he finally pulled away to get a cinnamon roll.

“Thanks.” You nodded gently and went back to cooking the bacon as Steve walked into the kitchen.

“Something smells good.” He said as he grabbed a mug from the cabinet. “Good to see you out of your room, Buck. Oo! Cinnamon rolls!”

“They’re really good.” Bucky said around his mouthful. You giggled as you grabbed the bacon pan and went over to put a few slices on his plate. He glanced up at you with a smile and you gave him two extra strips of bacon just because.

“Thank you. Homemade.” You missed the look Steve gave the two of you as you went back to finish cooking for the rest of the team.

“Well, I look forward to trying them.” He said as he grabbed himself a plate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So if you had to pick a language, which would you pick?” You glances up at Bucky, who had joined you again on your third day of work, and shrugged.

“Well, my German is shit.” You responded in that language to make a point. He cringed and nodded as you went on in the next language. “Portuguese is alright but I’m sloppy with my pronunciation some times.” He nodded at you as you switched again. “I was in France the second longest so my French is really good.” You smirked and looked up at him as you put the last layer of cheese on your breakfast casserole. “But Italian is what I was raised on. Most of my family speaks Italian, too so that would be my pick.” He nodded as you fought to stifle a yawn while you were putting your breakfast dish in the oven.

“Tired?” He asked in Italian. You giggled and nodded as you set your timer for 45 minutes and put your phone in your pocket.

“I’m always tired. That’s what you get when you wake up at 3am. Do you, by chance, smoke?” He cocked his eyebrow at you as you stood on your tiptoes to grab the pack of cigarettes you had hidden in top of the fridge. With a nod, he got up and followed you toward the stairs to the roof.

“Why do you get up at 3am?” You glanced back over your shoulder and realized just how tall this man was as he assented the stairs behind you.

“To talk to my mom. She works at a doctors office from eight-thirty in the morning until five-thirty at night so with the time difference, that’s the only time I get to talk to her. After that, I usually watch some TV, come up here to smoke and go to work. I have a rotation on what family I call which days as I work.” You shrugged as you asked FRIDAY to unlock the door to the roof and keep it unlocked for you. You stepped out into the warm, pre-sunrise, early August air and offered him your pack of cigarettes. “Can I ask you something?” He looked at you as he pulled two cigarettes from the back and put his hand out for the lighter. You waited a moment for his nod as he handed you a lit cigarette and your lighter. “How come you’re always up earlier than everyone else?” You pointed to the air conditioner you had claimed as a seat and started walking over to it.

“Don’t sleep well.” You sat down on the metal box and looked up at him to see if he would go on. He studied you for a moment as he took a long drag of his cigarette before looking down and exhaling toward his boots. “Nightmares.” You nodded at him and reached out to take his hand. Your fingers wrapped around the leather glove and his eyes darted over to the contact.

“If you hear me up, feel free to come in my room if you can’t sleep. Joey used to get night terrors when we first got to Italy and he’d come in and sleep with me and my sisters when he got scared.” He nodded his head and you pulled your hand back to your lap. You took a drag of your cigarette and giggled. “Just don’t tell Sam. I think he has a crush on me.” Bucky finally met your eyes again as he took a seat on the roof at your feet.

“He does.” You shrugged and exhaled over his head.

“Sucks to be him then.” You flicked your ash off to the side and tucked your feet under you on the box. “So… since I take it you’re not the open up right away kinda guy, what else would you like to know?”

“Are you scared of me?” Your brow furrowed as you looked down at him.

“Why would I be scared of you?” You’ve done nothing that should warrant that.” He looked away from you and shrugged.

“Most people are scared of me.” He put his cigarette between his lips and reached down to pull off his leather glove. You leaned forward to get a better look at his black metal hand. He flexed his fingers and you noticed for the first time the slight whirl of noise his arm made. You gently reached out and tapped on the top of his head; the only part of his body you could reach from where you were. He startled the slightest bit and looked up at you.

“I’m not scared of you, Bucky. You’re too kind-hearted to be scary even with that.” He looked up at you, almost unbelievingly when your moment was interrupted by your phone ringing in your back pocket. You pulled it out of your pocket and glanced at the screen to see your brother, Lucas’ name on the screen. You showed Bucky and answered the call on speaker as you grabbed one more cigarette for each of you to smoke before you went inside. As you spoke to your brother, Bucky leaned back on the roof and watched you; feeling a blanket of peace wash over him that he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.


	2. Chapter 2

“Où- sont- mes- chaussures- bleues?” You said slowly to Peter Parker as you made him a sandwich for lunch while helping him with his French homework; a class he had immediately signed up for when school started a month and a half ago when you started working for Stark industries. He repeated the phrase ‘where are my blue shoes’ back to you poorly as you put his lunch on a plate beside him. “Child, you are butchering this language.” You joked as you went over to grab him a soda. He groaned and threw his pencil down on the counter.

“This language is stupid.” He groaned as he picked up his BLT. You giggled as you set the can of Coke on the bar.

“It’s not stupid, you’re just thinking too hard.” You grabbed his text book off the bar and propped it up in front of you so you could read while you made Natasha and Wanda’s lunches for after their work out. You read the entire page in French to him, glancing up occasionally as you cut up fruits and vegetables for the girls protein shakes. Peter listened in awe at how your words came out like a song while you tossed everything in the blender as you finished the page.

“French is the language of love.” You said as you put the lid on the blender. You set your hand on it as you glanced over at the sophomore. “When you speak French, imagine that you are trying to seduce someone with your words.” He nodded as you turned on the blender and shook it to get everything blended correctly. After a moment, you turned off the blender and went over to get two tall glasses. 

“Now try again. Où sont mes chaussures bleues?” Without realizing it, he put on a slightly seductive face and repeated the words back in the most seductive voice he could muster. You couldn’t help but burst out laughing as you shook your head. “Alright, Casanova. Go easy on the sex voice, alright? You got the pronunciation that time but I don’t think your teacher will like it if you go into class talking like you wanna jump into bed with someone.” He blushed as you glanced at the next phrase he needed to translate and handed him back his book. “Alright, translate the next one.”

“Hey, think I could get one of them BLT’s?” Sam asked as he came into the kitchen. You looked over at him and nodded.

“Please would be nice, right?!” Bucky called out from the living room. Steve had been trying to get him to come out of his room during the day since he got to the facility and without you knowing it, Bucky had been a lot more willing to come out into the main rooms ever since you started working there. You giggled and looked in Bucky’s direction over your shoulder as Sam sighed.

“Please?” You bowed your head in thanks as you got the stuff you needed back out of the fridge. Sam flopped down on one of the bar stools and pretended to look at his phone while you were facing him but he blatantly checked out your ass in the leggings you had on and licked his lips as Peter read his slightly off translation of ‘your shoes are by the door.’

“Tes chaussures sont à la porte.” Bucky said before you could correct Peter as he glared at Sam. He got up from the couch and came into the kitchen as you cooked the bacon for Sam’s sandwich. Bucky purposely put his large body between you and Sam and leaned over to look at Peter’s textbook. “Ses is his not your. Tes is your.” Peter nodded as he erased the wrong word from the sentence and wrote the correct one in. “What’s next?” You put together Sam’s sandwich as Peter started translating the next sentence, ‘Where is my black coat? It is on the hook by the door.’

“So how long did you live in France, (Y/N)?” Sam asked as you set his lunch down in front of him. You looked up at him as you leaned on the counter next to Bucky.

“I was in France for a total of five years. Two for pastry school, two for culinary and one in between the two. Before I moved on to Switzerland.” He nodded as he took a bite of his sandwich. He opened his mouth to ask something else and Bucky glared at him.

“Chew, swallow, speak.” He barked. Sam bristled and sat up a little straighter as Peter looked up from his homework at the two men. You stood up straight and put your hand on Bucky’s arm as your ‘house mother mode’ kicked in.

“Easy.” You said in Italian as you looked up at the super soldier. He glanced down at you and you smiled reassuringly at him.

“It’s sickening. Talking with your mouth full like that. Has he no manners?” You cocked your eyebrow at him and shrugged.

“Maybe not. But snapping at him like that doesn’t do anything to change that. It just starts a fight and there’s no fighting in my kitchen, remember?” Bucky rolled his eyes as he looked back at Peter and his homework. You pat Bucky’s back, glanced at the clock, and started to pour the girls lunches as Sam looked back and forth between the two of you and tried to figure out what you had said in Italian.

“What did I miss?” He asked as Natasha and Wanda came in, dripping sweat from their morning training, followed by Steve, who had ran their training session. You shook your head at him as you passed the girls their preferred post workout lunches.

“Not a thing. BLT for lunch, Steve?” The super soldier nodded as he headed over to get a bottle of water from the fridge. You started to cook as Bucky reached his tolerance for people and told you in Italian he was going to his room. With a nod, you looked over at Peter with a smile. “What’s the next sentence, Peter?” He looked up at you, almost a little frightened to speak. You gave him a reassuring nod as Sam started talking to Steve about their training that afternoon.

“How do you say ‘hook’?” Peter asked as he brought his attention back to his homework. You told him as he took a bite of his lunch and wrote down the translation. As you put together Steve’s lunch, you glanced down your hallway toward Bucky’s room, wondering why he gave such a harsh response to Sam’s lack of manners, not realizing his angry response was because of Sam’s look and not just his manners.

——

“Has my daughter made you her beignets yet?” Your mother asked Bucky as the two of you sat on the roof smoking at three-twenty the next morning- your day off. He had come into your room every morning to hang out since you had offered and your mother loved talking to him as much as she loved hearing from you. “They are almost literally to die for.” Bucky laughed as you took a drag of your cigarette and pulled his jacket around your shoulders a little bit more.

“No, ma’am, she has not.” Your mom groaned into the phone as the sounds of her parking her old, noisy car to go to work floated through the little speaker.

“(Y/N), what are you doing? Make the man some beignets for goodness sake.” She scolded from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Bucky smiled at you and scooted across the roof to pull you into his side to stay warm. You instantly curled against his arm to leech his warmth. “Trust me, Bucky. You will fall in love with them. Did she ever tell you that her beignets are the reason she was kicked out of school in Switzerland?”

“Ma, really?” You snapped as Bucky chuckled next to you. You covered your face with your hand as your mom cranked down her car window to have a quick cigarette before work.

“She punched her teacher in the face.” You mom went on, telling one of the only stories you hated to fess up to. “He said her beignets were too flat even though she trained in a French bakery. Can you believe that? They kicked her out after that, unfortunately, but Alessandro and Marco, drove all the way up to give that teacher what was coming to him.”

“Ma, I’m gunna tell nonna on you for being mean to me.” You told her, jokingly as Bucky laughed at the two of you.

“Oh, you tell nonna and I’m not sending you any Christmas presents this year. And I’ll tell nonna and your brothers and sisters not to send you any either.” You let out an exaggerated gasp and scowled at your phone.

“You wouldn’t.” You could almost hear her nod into the phone as she took a long, quick drag of her cigarette.

“I would too because I’m a mean momma. I’ll even do this, you tell nonna I’m being mean and I’ll send Bucky presents and send you nothing!” You let out a whine as Bucky laughed out loud.

“Fine, I won’t tell!” You said with a laugh. She hummed around her cigarette over the sound of her car door creaking open. 

“That’s what I thought. Now I have to go. You two have a good day, OK? Love you.” You both wished her a good day and you hung up the phone with a giggle.

“You punched your teacher?” He asked with a laugh. You nodded as you curled into his side a bit more for the warmth.

“He was an asshole. Told me that I knew nothing about baking.” You rolled your eyes and shook your head. “He didn’t know shit about baking.” Bucky dropped his arm around your shoulders and rubbed his firm hand on your arm to warm you up.

“You know you’re gunna have to make me some of those beignets now, right?” You smiled and nodded as you rested your head on his shoulder. The two of you fell into a comfortable silence as you took the last drag of your cigarette and put it out in the ashtray you had brought to the roof.

“How come you jumped down Sam’s throat yesterday?” You felt him stiffen beside you and you gently reached up and held his hand to your arm to keep him from pulling away.

“Because he was being rude.” He said, shortly. You shook your head and looked up at him.

“Steve talks to me with food in his mouth all the time.”

“Well Steve doesn’t stare at your ass all the time either.” He quipped before he could stop himself. You cocked your eyebrow at him as he gently tried to pull away from you.

“No. You stay right there.” You scolded as you grabbed onto the fabric of the knee of his sweatpants. “Why would it matter if Sam stares at my ass? It doesn’t bother me one…”

“Because I like you, OK?” You smirked up at him as he looked up at the star covered sky above your head and huffed.

“Took you long enough to admit it to me.” His head whipped down so fast, you had to wonder how he hadn’t gotten whiplash. His eyes searched yours frantically as you reached up and brushed his long hair behind his ears casually.

“You knew?” You couldn’t help but giggle and nod.

“Of course I knew. Bucky, you’ve been coming into my room every morning at 3:05 almost on the dot to hang out and talk to my mother for a month. Now, I love the woman to death but she is not that interesting. And I know that catching up on shows like the Bachelor, Law & Order: SVU, and Say Yes to the Dress are not things that you would typically do instead of sleep… well maybe Law & Order… but still, the other ones no man would willingly watch unless they liked the girl that wanted to watch them. So yes, of course I knew. Just been waiting around for you to say something about…” Your words were cut off with a squeal as Bucky lifted you up off the roof and spun you into his lap. His lips crashed into yours as he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you tight to his chest. You moaned against his lips as you put your arms around his neck and tangled your fingers in his hair.

“I was gunna get you a rose.” He said as he rested his forehead against yours. A smile pulled at the corner of your lips as he looked up at you through his lashes and nodded. “Yea. But Steve thought it would be corny.”

“It would have been.” You giggled. “But I would have loved it anyways.” He smiled, revealing dimples that you absolutely loved and you tilted your head down and gave them each a kiss. “Now, can we move this party inside where it’s a little bit warmer, please?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ok wait… wait, wait, wait.” Bucky said as he reached over and paused the show for the ninth time in fifteen minutes. You laughed as he pointed at the TV. “So Emma is Henry’s birth mom. And Regina is Henry’s adoptive mom. But Regina is Snow’s step-mom and Snow is Emma’s mom so Regina is also Henry’s… step-great grandma?” You giggled and nodded as you took the remote from his hand.

“For the hundredth time, yes. And if you’re confused now, just wait until we get to season two.” He groaned as you hit play and settled back on the pillows on your bed for only a second before there was a knock on your bedroom door. You passed the remote off to Bucky, who you honestly thought was going to start taking notes to figure out ‘Once Upon A Time’ and headed over to the door.

“Wait, who’s this dead guy?!” Bucky shouted as he pointed at the TV. You laughed and glanced back to see ‘Prince Charming’ on screen before pulling open your bedroom door. Your smile fell instantly and the air was sucked from your lungs as you searched the faces of not only Steve but Tony Stark and Pepper Potts as well. You took a hesitant step back as Bucky paused the TV show.

“Hey guys.” Steve said gently. “Um…”

“(Y/N), we need to speak with you.” Pepper said. You nodded slowly as Bucky got up off your bed.

“Whatever it is, she didn’t do it.” He said to your defense. Tony coughed and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Unfortunately, she did.” You looked over at Tony as he turned his phone toward the two of you. You watched the video of Bucky lifting you off the roof and into his lap from a few hours before. Your eyes darted up to Pepper’s face as she pushed her significant other into your room so she could close the door. You stumbled slightly as you walked over to your bed and sat down as tears welled in your eyes.

“Yea, I’ll get you a couple chairs up there so you can quit sitting on my air conditioner. Now, we find ourselves in a sticky situation.” Tony said as he leaned his hip against your desk. “Because technically there is a ‘no dating other staff’ paragraph in the contract you signed.”

“Mr. Stark, I am so…” You tried but he quickly held his hand up to stop you.

“But technically, the tin man isn’t staff.”

“Be nice, Tony.” Pepper said as she glanced over at him. He looked over at her out of the corner of his eye and continued.

“Technically, I should fire you.” Your stomach turned and you instinctively reached out for Bucky as Pepper scoffed.

“Oh, for Christ sake, Tony.” She took a step forward and stood so that she was partially in front of him. “Look, I never brought up dating when I hired you and most people who sign contracts don’t read them so no one can say that you absolutely knew that this could possibly be frowned upon. Which it’s… kinda not, by the way.”

“You two seem to be really good for each other.” Steve chimed in and you knew that he must have been the one to make your bosses see the silver lining to this situation. “Bucky has opened up more and is starting to trust again which will be better for when he starts going on missions in the future.” You barely felt Bucky lace his fingers with yours on his lap as Tony sighed.

“Look, the only thing we can say is if this interferes with either of your jobs, mainly his…” He gestured to Bucky with a slight glare before looking back at you. “I’ll terminate your position here, immediately. And that would be unfortunate because I really want to consider making spaghetti Tuesdays a thing.” You gave him a weak smile and a huffed laugh and nodded.

“I’d say I’m sorry but I’d be lying.” Bucky said as he let go of your hand and put his metal hand on your lower back. Steve and Pepper both smiled at you as Tony’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Well just keep in mind you have a job to do, Buck. Girlfriend or not, you’re still an Avenger.” Tony opened his mouth to say something and Pepper quickly reached back and whacked him hard in the stomach without even looking at him.

“And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that you are still a chef for Stark Industries. While you only cook for the team, which is a small group of people, in the place you all reside, I expect that you separate business from pleasure when you are working.”

“Yes ma’am.” She shook her head and turned toward the door.

“Don’t call me ma’am.” She ushered Tony out in front of her as Steve took only one step closer to the door. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Tony and Pepper were far enough away before turning back and whacking Bucky’s arm.

“Way to go, pal.” You instantly flushed red and you quickly covered your face as Bucky pegged his best friend with a pillow. You fell over into your pillows and groaned as your bedroom door was closed.

“Doll, I am so, so sorry.” Bucky said as a slow chuckle bubbled in his chest. He laid down on the bed partially on top of you and wrapped you in his arms.

“I don’t know whether I should be embarrassed or what right now.” You said with a laugh as you rolled yourself in the tight space. You playfully glared at him and poked your finger on his nose. “I’m telling my mom you got me in trouble at work.” His eyes widened and you could see he was fighting his smile.

“Don’t do that! She’ll take away my Christmas presents!”

“She’ll give them to me instead.” You playfully stuck your tongue out at him and he tickled you in retaliation. He let up after a moment and gave you a chaste kiss before pulling away.

“Alright, now you gotta tell me who this dead guy on your show is because I am so freaking lost right now.” With a laugh, you let him roll both of you over on the bed so you could get him caught up on one of your favorite shows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t three weeks after you started dating when Bucky was needed for a mission. It was an all hands on deck mission that sprung up in the blink of an eye. One minute you were making breakfast, talking to Steve and Bucky about your hellish year in Portugal before you went to France, and the next, Tony came running in, sweeping everyone out of bed and out the door. 

“It’ll only be a couple days.” Bucky said gently as he gave you a tight hug. “I’ll be back before you know it.” You nodded against his broad chest as he kissed the top of your head. “I won’t be able to call…”

“Just come back to me. I’ll make you my beignets again if you come back.” You felt him chuckle against your cheek as he nodded.

“I’ll be back, doll. I promise.” When Tony yelled that they had to go, you forced yourself to pull out of Bucky’s arms.

“Be careful, baby.” He nodded and gave you a chaste kiss before grabbing his backpack and quickly headed out the door. It took you a moment to realize that you were completely alone before you went to clean up the kitchen. When you finished, you walked in a slight fog up to the roof to call Joey just for something to do.

—

The mission, that was supposed to only take a couple days, turned into over a week of zero contact from the team. Not a single call, text, email… not even a smoke signal. So instead of walking in circles around your or Bucky’s rooms, you baked.

“You’re stressin’ for no reason, (Y/N).” Isabella said as she watched you put the finishing touches on a gingerbread replica of your neighborhood in Sicily that you started on day four, despite the fact that you were nowhere close to Christmas. “He’s going to come back.”

“I know he is.” You said without glancing up at the video call. “I’m not worried.” Your sister huffed and gestured to your baking with her head as she rocked her sleeping one year old, Addie.

“So what do you call that?” You glanced up at your laptop to see what she was talking about and looked down at the display that took up the entire breakfast bar. You weren’t exactly sure how it got as big as it did, so you sighed and sat back on your heels on the counter.

“Shut up, Issy.” She giggled as you sat up again to add a line of decorative icing to the top of the farmers market you went to every morning as a kid with your nonna. “So I bake when I get nervous.”

“Sissy, you recreated home on your countertop.” You sighed and nodded as you moved on to touch up the church.

“Yea, so what?”

“Ms. (Y/L/N). The quinjet is back.” Your stomach flipped and you quickly lurched off the counter, nearly shoving your little village off the counter in the process.

“Call you back!” You called out as you ran out of the kitchen. You tore through the halls, not caring that you were in Bucky’s boxers and a wife beater, covered head to toe in flour and icing ingredients. You didn’t even care that you were probably acting wildly unprofessional as you threw yourself into your boyfriends open arms as he came into the living quarters. All that mattered was he was home.

“God, I missed you.” He whispered as he dropped his backpack and held you in a nearly bone-crushing hug. You locked your ankles together behind his back and leaned back to cup his scruff covered face in your palms.

“Hi.” He smiled up at you as he balanced you on his metal arm and reached up to wipe some flour off your cheek.

“You’ve been baking.” You nodded as he gave you a chaste kiss and set you down on the floor. His eyes dragged up and down your body and he chuckled. “And I think you’re wearing a cookie or two.”

“Try a house or two.” You said as you bent down and grabbed his backpack. “I may have gone a little overboard.”

“A little?” Steve laughed as he got the first glimpse of your gingerbread town. “(Y/N), did you sleep at all?”

“Yes.” You lied as the team walked through the kitchen to head to their rooms.

“That’s a lie.” Bucky said as he gently picked up a house on the edge of the town. He chuckled as he laid it on his metal palm. “I feel like Godzilla.”

“James Barnes, you crush that house in your hand and you can sleep in your own bed tonight. I worked hard on that house.” He glanced over at you out of the corner of his eye, silently testing your seriousness as the rest of the team grabbed their own cookie houses on their way to their rooms to crash for the rest of the day and night.

“Be grateful you’re cute, doll.” He said as he pulled off the roof and popped it in his mouth. You smiled and nodded as you headed over to the freezer to pull out a couple homemade pizzas to thaw for dinner for anyone that was up.

“Can we go to bed, now? I only have a couple hours before I have to make dinner” He nodded at you and ushered you past him.

“Shower first for both of us.” You nodded in agreement as exhaustion started to settle into your soul.

“Then sleep.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You looked at potato after potato, searching for the perfect ones for your Thanksgiving feast. Bucky stood by your side, simply waiting for you to finish. He had been to the market with you enough times to know you were going to take forever picking out the perfect fruits and vegetables. So instead of trying to rush you faster, he simply leaned on the cart handle and tried to figure out texting on his new iPhone.

“So I just write anything?” He asked, more to himself. “And they get it just like that?” You nodded as you added your potatoes of choice to your bag and set it in the cart.

“Just like writing a letter but faster and shorter.” You gently pulled him along by the cart after you as you moved on to the sweet potatoes. You glanced back at him as he furrowed his brow.

“Seems so… invasive.” You couldn’t help but giggle as you grabbed your sweet potatoes of choice and added them to the bag.

“It’s not invasive, baby. It’s modern technology.” He scowled as he chicken pecked his way across the keyboard, sending you a test text message. You took a step toward the artichokes on the other side of the isle and smiled as your phone buzzed when suddenly a piercing pain ripped through your right side. It made you stumbled back in shock and your hand flew to your side. The sound of gunshots suddenly became deafening in the small farmers market, mingling with the sounds of fearful screams.

Bucky instantly pulled you into his side, flipped the nearest display table in front of you, and crouched down behind it. You heard the sounds of bullets ricocheting off his metal arm and the cart he used as a barrier from behind as he did every thing in his power to keep you from getting shot. You couldn’t cry or scream, you couldn’t even think as you slowly fisted your shaking hand in Bucky’s shirt. 

In your mind, the gun fire went on for hours, but in reality, it only lasted a few seconds. The sound of shouts mingled with the screams, followed by the sounds of screeching tires. You could feel your boyfriend’s chest heaving against your shoulder as he held the bullet ridden table in place with every ounce of strength he had. As the adrenaline began to wear off, your side started to burn.

“Bucky.” You tried; your voice only coming out in a whisper. His darkened eyes turned down to you as you looked at your blood stained fingers. You glanced up at his terrified, blue eyes as the farmers market around you began to slip away. “I’m cold.”

“Stay with me, baby doll.” He said as he leapt to his feet and picked you up in his arms. He took off at an inhuman speed as he held your side to his stomach. “You’re gunna be OK, I promise. I got you, baby, just stay with me.” You nodded weakly and laid your head on his chest as your vision tunneled to black.

——

“…A negative. STAT!…”

“… steady sinus rhythm…”

“… she’s lucky to be alive…”

“…she saved your life, Buck.” “She could have died!…”

“…our mom said we could bring her to nonna’s…”

“…she’ll need to take it easy a while…”

“… paid leave until further notice…”

“… come back to me…”

Pain. That was the first thing you consciously realized as you forced your eyes open in the poorly lit room you were in. You heard fabric slide against plastic to your right and you forced your body to allow your head toward the noise. Tear stained blue eye stared back at you. You felt Bucky’s warm hand tighten around yours as he slowly stood up and sat down on the bed beside you.

“Doll…” You tried to reach out to him and yelped in pain as the movement pulled at your side. “No, don’t move, baby.” He said gently as he pushed your hand down. “It’s OK.” You nodded at him as he scooted up on the bed so you could hold his metal hand on his lap. His eyes darted to your side to make sure he wasn’t causing you any pain.

“What happened?” He shook his head as he reached out with his right hand and brushed your hair out of your face.

“I couldn’t stop it.” He said softly. You shook your head as he cupped your jaw in his hand.

“You saved me.” A smiled pulled at your lips as you squeezed his hand in yours. “You’re my shiny knight…”

“It’s all my fault.” He said as he brushed his thumb across your cheek. You shook your head and sighed.

“Technically, it’s Sam’s. He’s the one that requested artichokes. We’ll blame him, OK?” A small smile pulled at the corner of his lips and your smile widened. “Is that a smile I see?” He blushed slightly and ducked his head so he could hide behind his hair. You tried to move your hand to brush his hair back but he tightened his grip and grabbed your other hand faster than you could blink your eyes so you couldn’t move it either. 

“No moving, doll. Doc’s orders. You gotta take it easy.” He smirked the slightest bit as you let the muscles of your arm fall slack on the bed. “Don’t make me tell your mom.” Your brow furrowed slightly as you looked over at him.

“Wait… I vaguely remember something about my mom…” 

“Yea, we’re gunna go to your mom’s for a while, doll.” He nodded as he laced his fingers with yours. “Frank and Alex are gunna come with us and we’re picking up Issy, Addie and Lucas, Catalina, and the twins in France on the way. Nice, paid, family vacation, OK?” You nodded in agreement as he carefully stood up from the bed and laid your hand down next to you. “I’m gunna go get Banner to check on you and see how long the Stark jet’s gunna take to get back for taking Pepper to D.C.” You nodded at him as he bent over the rail of the bed and gently kissed your forehead. “I love you.” You tilted your head the slightest bit to find his eyes. A smile pulled at the corner of your lips and you nodded.

“I love you, too, baby.” His face finally broke into a smile as he gave you a passionate kiss. It was over entirely too soon as he flipped on your bedside light and headed out to go and make sure everything was all set up for your trip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There’s my girl.” You mother said as you were carried (at Bucky’s insistence) over the threshold of your mom’s house; the house you and your siblings grew up in. She came over to your side as Bucky carefully set your down on the couch. Tears welled in her (Y/E/C) eyes as she kneeled down next to you.

“Ma, I’m fine.” She huffed and shook her head.

“You’ve never been fine, angel. You’re a mess just like the rest of us.” You smiled at her as you waved her closer so you could give her a one armed hug.

“What are we, chopped liver? Can’t even say hi to your sons.” Alex grunted as he shuffled past Bucky with your and your boyfriend’s heavy suitcase in one hand and his in the other. Your mom glared up at him, playfully.

“Were you shot, you little shit?” She snapped as she got up to give him a hug. You looked over and smiled for only a second before your nonna came down the stairs from her room. Your siblings and in-laws moved like a wave to let her past.

“Let me see, little angel.” You pulled up your shirt with a slight hiss at the pull of your sore muscles. As gently as she could, she pulled up the edge of the bandage to look at the six stitches on your side. She didn’t say a word as she put the bandage back into place and glanced up at Bucky. “Thanks you save m’ ahn-gel.” She said in accented and broken English.

“He speaks Italian, nonna.” You said as you put your shirt back down. She nodded as she stood up and purposely reached out for his metal hand. He didn’t have a choice but to let her take it as your family silently watched on.

“You saved one of my babies. That’s a debt I can never repay.” He shook his head at her and glanced down at you.

“I’d do it again in a heart beat, ma’am.” She shook her head as she pat his hand.

“Call me nonna.” He nodded at her as she headed toward the kitchen. Your eyebrows flew to your hairline as you glanced up at your mom; your nonna had never let any of you and your siblings’ significant others call her nonna until a ring had been placed on a finger.

“Well damn.” Frank said as he headed toward the stairs to go up to his old room. “Never seen that one before.”

“Franco, take Bucky up to your sisters room and get him settled in while I start lunch. Amy and the kids will be here soon.” Your older brother nodded at her and pat Bucky’s shoulder. Frank immediately winced and shook his head in pain at the impact with metal. You tried to sit up a bit but four different people scolded you for trying to move.

“Stay still.” Bucky said as he picked up your suitcase and pointed at you. “Still.” You rolled your eyes and rested your head back on the couch pillow.

“I can walk, you know.” You called out as he headed upstairs after your brothers. He glanced over at you and his eyes narrowed. You held up your hands in defeat and huffed. “OK. Staying still.”

——

“Be gentle with Aunt (Y/N)!” Your sister in law, Maria called out to her four kids from the kitchen as they came barreling out of the house to the back porch. Your three nephews, Antonio junior (Tony), John Paul (JP) and Philip and your niece, Rose, all slowed to a walk and came up one by one to give you gentle hugs hello.

“Hi my babies.” You said as you rubbed your hand on the back of your nieces head, reassuringly. You looked at her tear-filled eyes and giggled softly. “I’m OK, sweetheart. I promise.” She nodded at you and sniffled as your oldest brother came out to the small backyard where your brothers and Bucky were playing an impromptu game of touch football.

“Way to go, kiddo.” He said as he kissed the top of your hair before ruffling it. “Had to go and get yourself shot before Thanksgiving, didn’t you?” You scowled at him as he lit a cigarette subtly and passed it to you with a glance around for your nonna, since she didn’t like her angels smoking despite the fact that you all did. He moved between you and the kitchen window as a block as you took a shallow drag.

“Hey, just felt like coming home for a while. New York was getting a little boring with just Franco and Alessandro around.” He smirked down at you as he took the cigarette from you and took a drag. He passed it back as he pulled over a chair and watched Joey split your nephews between the two teams as Rose went over to play with Nicky, Dante, Isabella and Addie on the swing set your grandfather had built you and Joey as kids before he passed away. 

“So this is the guy?” Antonio asked as he pointed to Bucky. You looked over at the man in question with a smile and nodded.

“He’s a good man, Antonio. You’ll like him.” The two of you watched the next down as Mario simply picked up the older twin, Cruz and ran him toward the goal past Lucas. You took the offered cigarette with a huffed laugh as Bucky high-fived Cruz for the touch down. Your brother nodded slowly and you could see the protective look in his eye as he sized up the super soldier.

“He better be.” You rolled your eyes and took another drag of your smoke before passing it to him.

“Nonna likes him.” You said as you glanced back at Bucky. “Told him to call her ‘nonna’ and everything.” You could see the smile light up Antonio’s eyes but he purposely kept it off his face.

“Well I guess we can keep him around then.” You both smirked over at each other as he passed you the last bit of cigarette and stood up to join the football game. “Won’t stop me from kicking his ass in football.”

“Good luck with that!” You called out as you carefully leaned over to put out the cigarette out. You tried to keep the look of discomfort off your face but your small whine was caught anyways.

“Doll!” Bucky snapped, causing everyone to look over at you. “Be still or bed!” You scowled at him, knowing full well that he was just doing what Bruce had made him promise to do. He cocked his eyebrow at you, challengingly and you rolled your eyes.

“Still.” You grumbled, knowing that he could hear you. He nodded his head and went back to the football game as Amy came out of the kitchen.

“What do you need, sweetheart?” You glanced up at her and shook your head as you gestured to the ashtray with your thumb.

“Was just putting out a cigarette.” She nodded and stepped around you to pull the little table and the ashtray closer to you. She grabbed your half empty glass and headed back inside. You checked the window to the kitchen as Amy came back out with your lemonade.

“She’s napping.” She said as she grabbed your purse and put it on your lap for you. You sighed and grabbed your cigarettes, glad that you could finally smoke your favorite Garett’s; a cigarette brand that wasn’t offered in the states. Amy lit one as well and sat down in the chair Antonio had pulled over. “He loves you, you know.” You nodded at her as she got up to put the ashtray on her leg. The two of you stayed quiet for a moment, watching the boys play before she sighed. “So what happened?” You shrugged your left shoulder and glanced at Bucky.

“I don’t really know.” You turned to look at Amy and shook your head. “We were shopping at the market and I just remember the pain. He grabbed me and used the display case to block the bullets. I just… it burned, like a lot. And I can remember the blood on my hand before he carried me out and that’s really it until I woke up. It all just happened so fast.” She nodded at you as you took a drag of your cigarette and glanced over at Bucky. “He saved my life.” She nodded at you as JP scored a touchdown against his dad.

“You seem happier with him. So much happier than you were when you lived here.” A smile stretched across your face as you reached out for her hand.

“I am, Amy. I really, really am.” You nodded at Bucky as he glanced up at you on his way to the line for the next play. You blew him a kiss, causing him to smile as he bent down in position. The two of you watched the guys play before you ashed your cigarette in the ashtray. “I couldn’t ask for a better man in my life.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“(Y/N), you need to sit down.” You mother said as you tried to help her and Amy make dinner. “Don’t make me call Bucky down here.” You mimicked her, rudely as you cut up mushrooms for Chicken Marsala. Your side ached horribly and you knew she was right but you were too stubborn to listen to her in the kitchen.

“(Y/N), go sit down.” Amy snapped as you picked up the cutting board and slowly made your way over to the stove. It was almost instantly taken from your hand.

“Can you not sit still for five minutes while I shower?” Bucky growled at you. “You promised…”

“I wanna cook…” You whined as he carefully picked you up. His eyes glanced down at the small spot of fresh blood on your shirt and pinched it between his fingers to show you. You could hear his teeth grind together and he tried not to yell at you on his way up stairs.

“Now, I’m grounding you.” He said as he laid you down on your old, iron sleigh bed. “(Y/N), I love you but you can’t move around yet! You shouldn’t even be out of the hospital.” He sat down on the bed beside you with a sigh and grabbed the first aid kit Bruce had given him from his bag as you pulled up your shirt. “I’m not trying to keep you from being with your family, doll. I just don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“Bucky, I’m not gunna get hurt…”

“You don’t know that!” He snapped, loudly. You quickly reached out and grabbed his hand as you looked up at him in confusion.

“James…” He looked away from you but you reached up to grab his chin. With a little coaxing, he finally turned to look at you with tears in his eyes.

“I should have stopped it.” You moved your hand up from his chin to his cheek and shook your head.

“Bucky, you may be a super hero but you can’t stop some crazy dude with a gun in a farmers market.” With a sigh, he shook his head and flipped open the white medical box.

“It wasn’t just… some crazy guy.” He said softly as he pulled the bandage off to assess the damage you did while moving around and cooking. He stayed quiet for a moment, staring at the small trickle of blood on your side before he sighed and started to clean you up. “It was the guys that brainwashed me.” Your brow furrowed but he refused to look at you as he poured some hydrogen peroxide on a folded piece of gauze. He offered you his hand to squeeze before placing the gauze on the outside of the cut and working his way to the middle.

“Tony pulled the video from the store. It was definitely HYRDA. The team is locating their base stateside.”

“Which is why we came to Italy for Thanksgiving.” He nodded as he leaned forward to toss out the old bandage and the dirty gauze.

“They know I’m with you now. They know I have a weakness.” You nodded at him and gasped as he applied some Neosporin across the stitches a little roughly. “Sorry, doll.” You nodded at him and exhaled the breath.

“So the teams gunna stop them, right? They always stop the bad guys.” He shrugged as he grabbed clean gauze and the roll of paper tape.

“They should. But we just have to be more careful, now.” He carefully patched you up and helped you sit up to change your shirt.

“We’ll be more careful, baby. It’ll be OK, alright?” He sighed as he put one of his wife beaters on you.

“I can’t lose you, doll.” He said softly as he gently laid you back down. You met his scared, sad blue eyes and you reached up to cup his jaw.

“Good thing I don’t plan on going anywhere then.” A small smile pulled at his lips as he put away the first aid kit.

“So that means you’re not gunna leave this bed, right?” Your smile instantly dropped as he came over to kiss your forehead.

“Rude.” He chuckled as he walked over to the door.

“Stay. In. Bed.” He said; pointing at you harshly with every word. “I’m going to get some water and tell your mom you’re grounded.” You rolled your eyes as you grabbed a pillow and went to throw it at him. Pain shot up your side and you instantly changed your mind and used the pillow to sit yourself up a little more as Bucky paused in the doorway. “See, you’re learning.”

“Shut up.”


End file.
